Musar על קידושין 79:14

The warning to remove all vestiges of idol-worship is part of the overall directive of סור מרע, "stay away from evil." The wording of the prohibition not to covet appurtenances of former idolatry is a reminder that once one covets something one is liable to take steps to acquire it. When the Torah says: לא תביא תועבה אל ביתך, this is not the same as saying: לא תביא תועבה לביתך. The wording of the Torah teaches that the transport of the item is culpable, even before its arrival in your house. Following examples of distancing oneself from evil, the Torah continues to urge us ועשה טוב, to actively engage in doing good. An example of the latter is the commandment to love the stranger, i.e. the one who has forsaken the path of idol-worship. These converts are so beloved by G–d that He associates one's loving them with loving G–d Himself. This is why the Torah uses the word אהבה both for the feelings we are to harbor towards G–d as well as for the feelings we are to harbor and display towards the stranger who has embraced Judaism.

One may be able to explain something puzzling in Exodus 32,25, in a similar vein. It says there: "Moses saw that the people were out of control for Aaron had let them get out of control so that they were a menace to any who might oppose them." The Torah obviously refers to the fact that it was Aaron who had actually made the golden calf. However, Aaron's whole purpose had been לשם שמים, to further G–d's interests, to prevent a desecration of G–d's name. Aaron was aware that the people had forfeited their lives already from the moment they had planned to make an alternate deity for themselves. While it is true, that generally speaking, G–d does not account the intention to commit a sin as something culpable, that rule does not hold true when the sin involved is idol-worship. We have a special verse in Ezekiel 14,5, to make this plain: למען תפש את ישראל בלבם, "In order to take hold of the family of Israel in their heart." Aaron was convinced that if the Jewish people were punished this would constitute a desecration of the name of G–d, since the Gentile nations would say: "where is their G–d now?" The Gentile nations would never associate the death of the Jewish people with a sin they had committed merely in their hearts and which had not become common knowledge. Aaron thought he could prevent this descration of G–d's name by making the golden calf and causing an already culpable thought to be translated into a culpable action. Once the Gentile nations would hear about Israel worshipping the golden calf and being punished, clearly this would demonstrate to those nations that Israel had been punished for a grave sin.

We know that the cause of Haman's decree was that the Jewish people at that time were guilty of two sins. One was a sin committed with their bodies, the other sin was committed with their souls. The sin committed with their souls was that they prostrated themselves before the image Nebuchadnezzar had constructed. The sin of committing idolatry is always considered as committed with one's soul, though one's body may have demonstrated it. As soon as one has made a conscious decision to make an obeisance to the idol, one's soul has already become guilty as if one had physically perpetrated the act. This is the only instance known in which G–d holds us culpable for the intention even though the act has not yet been committed. Our sages have derived this from למען תפוש את בית ישראל בלבם, "In order to take hold of the Family of Israel in their heart, etc." (Ezekiel 14,5). No such principle operates concerning any other kind of sins. Idol-worship is something that is committed primarily by the heart accepting an alien deity.